Protracted Wars

A letter in response to William Finnegan’s article (January 23, 2012)

William Finnegan, in addressing the failures of plowshare-tortoise conservation, quotes the commercial animal trader Olaf Pronk: “The best way to reduce illegal trade is to make a legal trade” (“Slow and Steady,” January 23rd). A comparison can be made between the battle against the illegal tortoise trade and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s perpetual “war on drugs,” which it has waged for forty years with little if any success. The agency has squandered untold billions of taxpayer dollars. Sun-Tzu, in “The Art of War,” advises that no nation has ever benefitted from a protracted war. Perhaps drug enforcement and wildlife conservation have valuable lessons to share with each other. I wish them the real success they deserve, for the sake of us all.

Rocky Semmes

Alexandria, Va.

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